Phonograph



A. L. HOWARD.

PHONOGRAPH. APPLlcAnoM mio Ar|'\.22. 1920.

Pa'fented Feb. 22, 1921.

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V ill.. E e Illu: 5. :..lnlllsillllllll A. L. HOWARD.

PHONOGRAPH.

APPLlcAnoN mio APR. 22. 1920.

Patented Feb. 22, 1921.

UNITED STATES ALBEN L. HOWARD, F ANN ARBOE, MICHIGAN.

PHONOGRAPH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22, 1921.

Application led April 22, 1920. Serial No. 375,688.

Toall whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ALBEN L. HOWARD, a

citizen of the United States, residin in the city of Ann Arbor, county of Was tenaw, and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Phonographs, of which the ollowing is a specifcation.

My invention relates to improvements in phonographs and relates more-particularly to a starting and stopping device for phonographs using the disk type record.

l meng its salient objects are to provide a device or attachment which automatically starts the record disk to rotating when the reproduction horn is in position for the needle to be placed upon the record, and automatically stops the record disk when the record has been completed; to provide a device that is adapted to be mounted on any type of disk machine one that is positive in its operation, simple in construction, besides having the working parts conveniently positioned for adjustment; to provide a device that ma be permanently adjusted due to the fact tliat there is practically no wear upon the actuating mechanism; to provide an attachment that is quickly detachable from the machine by removm a single plate upon which the exposed mecanism is mounted and in general to rovide a device of the character herea ter referred to.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary ed e view of themechanism of a disk type p onograph with parts broken away and parts shown in section. Y

Fig. 42 is a plan view of substantially that part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail view taken .on line 3--3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the pinion which meshes with the rack shown in Fig. 2.

Referri to the drawin only that part of the mec anism of a yisk type phonog'aph is shown as is particularly related to t e automatic starting and sto ping device. Two large springs shown at 1 nrnish power for the driving motor. These sprin togather with large helical gear are mounted upon a shaft 3., which is carried by suitable bearin 4,. These bearin s are part of a frame 5, w ich is iixedly attac ed to the upper table portion 6. The disk 7 which carries the record 8 is rotated by means of a vertical shaft 9 upon which is cut a worm 10, which meshes with the helical ear 2. The s eed of the shaft and the disk 1s regulate by means of a governor (not shown) driven through the gear 11 and worm 12. A helical gear 13, which meshes with the larger gear 2 of a similar character, is mounted in shaft 14, the latter being also carried b the frame 5. To this shaft 14 is also fixe a worm 15, which drives a horizontally positioned gear 16. The gear 16 is mounted on a vertical shaft 17 to which is also rotatably mounted on the top thereof a pinion 18. The top of the vertical shaft 17 is slotted as shown at 19 and in this slot is placed a light fiat friction spring which is held in place by means of the nut 20. This spring is slightl bowed and either end slightly twisted ongitudinallyy in opposite directions so that with the setting up of the nut, the ends of the spring will friction,.- ally contact the top of the pmion 18 when it is rotated in a counterclockwise direction and turn freely when rotatin in a clockwise manner. The friction cause by this spring is hardly perceptible but it is sufficient to positively actuate the mechanism. The pinion 18 meshes with a rack 21, which is an integral part of the member sliding in the central slot 22 of the arc 23. The arc upon which the rack'is cut is centered at 24, as is the reproducing arm 25, which is connected to the sounding box 26 by means of a curved tube .connection 27. This curved tube ma be rotated so as toraise and lower the sou-n ing box and needle 28 from contact with the record. The arc 23 on theother'hand, in which is slidably mounted the rack 21 is centered at 29. This are is pivoted at V3() and a rotative tension in the direction of the arrow is constantly held upon the arc by means of the coil spring 31.

. Adjustably fixed by means of the set screws 32, to the top of the rack member 21 and sliding with it in the slot 22, is a plate member 33. In this plete member is cut an L-shape' slot 34 and into the shorter Partien of this slot .is screwed a-set screw ,35, 'which is adapted to regulate the length of the slotted ortion ormore;prapr1yfthewidth 0f the s. milder upon which the vertical i u1 36 may rest.` This vertical pin is rvetedpto.

The 11o the sound tube 25 as shewnin Fig. l. lower `portion of this pin or tha t portionv which rests upon thezshoulder of the' L -slot is s uared so that its dropping from the shou der into the longer portion of the slot is instantaneous.

The mechanism is simply mounted upon the top surface of any disk machine as the plate 37 is fitted beneath the flange 38 of the sound arm and is held in place by the screws 39. This plate fixes the center 24 for the rack and has upon its surface a hole in which is set the ivot screw 30 for the arc 23. An extende portion 37 of the plate 37 is apertured to fit over the sleeve bearing 17 as shown in Fig. 4. In this manner, besides fixing the centers of the rack and eccentrically arranged arc, the center of the pinion 18, by means of the expansion of the plate, is set relative therewith. At the end of the arc 23 is fixedly attached a narrow plate 40, upon which is xed the leather or rubber stop 41. This stop is adapted to contact the inner circumference of the disk 7 and prevent its rotation.

The operation of the device is as follows: When the sound tube 25, together with the sound box 26, are rotated upon their pivot 24 to place the needle upon the outer edge of the record in beginning a selection, the pin 36 will drop into the longer portion of the slot 34, due to the eccentric arrangement of the are 23, and the tension held upon the arc by means of the coil spring 31. As the tube is moved to the outer edge of the record, the rack and late member 33 slide in the slot 22, drawing the arc 23, toward the disk .7 against the tension of the spring 31. The moving of this arc toward the disk will draw the stop 41 from contact with the disk and automatlcally release the disk so that it may rotate. At this time, the rack will be out of mesh with the pinion 18. As the needle moves horizontal] across the face of the record, the rack andy pinion will mesh and as the pinion 18 is geared from the motor to rotate in timed relation with the travel of the needle across the record, the movement of the rack and pinion is practically identical. To allow for any dilerence inthe movement of these two members, I have frictionally mounted the pinion as previously explained. With the starting of the disk, the pin` 36 is positioned upon the shoulder of the slot 34 as is shown in Fig. 2, and remains in this position until the needle has advanced to the end of the selection. At this time, the sound arm will become stationary as the needle is riding continuously in an endless oove in the record. The pinion, however, w ich is driven from the motor, continues to rotate and meshing with the rack causes itto move as before. The continued movement of the rack causes the pin to drop from the shoulder of the L- slot, thereby permitting4 the coil spring 31 to take effect and throw the stop eil` in contact with the edge of the disk. The length of time which the disk and record are allowed to rotate after the completion of the selection may be re lated y restricting the size of the shoul er upon which the pin 36 rests by means of the set screw 35.

It will be seen from this that by merely placin the sound box in position at the edge oigthe disk or record, the latter will immediately commence to rotate and will continue to rotate until the selection has been completed or the needle has become stationary upon the record.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an automatic starting and stopping device, for phonographs, the combination with a rotatin disk and reproducing mechanism adapted to progress horizontally across substantially one half of the disk during its rotating period, of an automatically actuated arc adapted to frictionally contact the disk, operative connections between the reproducing mechanism and the arc for automatically starting and stoppingr the rotation of the disk.

2. In an automatic starting and stopping device, for phonographs, the combination with a rotating disk and reproducing mechanism adapted to ride horizontally across substantially one half of the disk during its rotating period, of an automatically actuated arc ada ted to frictionally contact the disk, operatlve between the reproducing mechanism and the arc operating to start the disk when the reproducing mechanism is in position near the circumference of the disk, and to stop the disk when the reproducing mechanism is positioned near the center of the disk.

In a starting and stopping device for phonographs, the combination with a rotating disk, of a reproducing mechanism adapted to move horizontally across substantially one half of the disk during the rotating period, an automatically actuated arc eccentricall positioned with reference to said reprodiicng mechanism and adapted to frictionally contact the disk, operative connections between the reproducing mechanism and the arc, for automatically starting and stopping the rotation of the dlsk.

4. In a starting and stopping device for phonographs, the combination with a rotat- -mg disk, of a reproducing mechanism adapted to move horizontally across substantially the radius of the disk during the rotating period, an automatically actuated arc adapted to frictionally contact the rotating disk, having a sliding member therein, moving in timed relation with the reproducing mechanism, operative connections between the sliding member of the arc and the reproducing mechanism for. automatically starting and stopping the rotation of the di sk.

ALBEN L. HOWARD. 

